Laraine Newman

Known for
Being one of the original cast members of Saturday Night Live

Spouse(s)
Chad Einbinder (1991–present)

Children
Lena (b. 1991) Hannah (b. 1995)

Laraine Newman Biography

Laraine Newman (born March 2, 1952) is an American comedienne, actress, and writer, and was part of the original Saturday Night Live cast.

Personal life

Newman was born on March 2, 1952, in Los Angeles, California, the granddaughter of a Jewish cattle rancher from Arizona. She is the youngest of four children and a twin. Her sister, Tracy Newman, is an Emmy Award winning Television writer. Newman attended Beverly Hills High School in Beverly Hills, California. Newman married actor-writer-director Chad Einbinder in 1991. They have two daughters, Lena (born 1991) and Hannah (born 1995). Newman and Einbinder, a Philadelphia native, regularly join comedian Craig Shoemaker and other friends at Braemar Country Club in Tarzana, California, to watch Philadelphia Eagles games.

Career

She took her first improv classes when she was 15. After finishing high school she auditioned for four acting schools in England including Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and Bristol Old Vic. After failing the second round of auditions for all four schools, she went to Paris to study mime with Marcel Marceau for a year.

She was a founding member of The Groundlings and is best known for being an original cast member on NBC's Saturday Night Live, appearing on the show from its inception in 1975 through 1980. She originated the characters of Sheri the Valley Girl and Connie Conehead, among others:

" ...my favorite character that I created at Saturday Night Live, which, I think, only pleased me and no one else, was Lina Wertmuller."

During her five years on SNL she became a close friend of co-star Gilda Radner (although there was also a degree of rivalry between them). However, by her own account, she was unhappy for much of her time with the show - she disliked living in New York, and as the series progressed she increasingly came to feel that she was not receiving enough airtime. By the fifth season (1979–80) she had developed serious eating disorders and was using heroin regularly; she left the show at the end of that season, along with most of the original cast.

Newman's post-SNL film career has been in both leading and supporting roles, as well as a voice artist on television and features. In 1986, she starred in the syndicated B-movie comedy series, The Canned Film Festival, playing the lead role as Laraine the usherette. Additionally, she made appearances on such programs as Laverne & Shirley, as Donut Rooter in Devo's We're All Devo VHS, According to Jim, St. Elsewhere, Amazing Stories, Friends, The Tick, 3rd Rock from the Sun, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Histeria!, Wayside, Danny Phantom, CatDog, As Told By Ginger, Rugrats (in "All Growed Up", an episode which would form the basis of the spinoff All Grown Up!, for which she also provided voice work), 7th Heaven, The Flintstones, Avatar: The Last Airbender and Metalocalypse. Most recently she appeared in an episode of Entourage and Brothers & Sisters, provided voice work for WALL-E, Battle for Terra, Ponyo, Jungle Junction, Cars, Up!, Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., Barnyard, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Happily N'Ever After, Horton Hears a Who!, Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Dr. Seuss' The Lorax, and Wreck-It Ralph. She made a guest voice appearance in SpongeBob SquarePants & Doc McStuffins. She also voices Queen Jipjorrulac, the mother of Mark Chang, in The Fairly OddParents.

She voiced the Wicked Witch of the West in Tom and Jerry and the Wizard of Oz, an animated direct-to-DVD midquel/parallel of the classic 1939 film.

Newman also works as a writer and editor. She is a contributing editor for the online magazine One For The Table, and she is an occasional contributor to the Huffington Post. She has contributed articles for the Los Angeles Times, The Believer, and McSweeney's. She wrote the foreword to the book version of the UCB Production "Worst Laid Plans".

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